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UEFA Euros 2024

I think Gordon should have come on after 60mins, probably for Foden who does not look comfortable on the left. Foden can't be on the right because Saka so... maybe play him as a 10, but then you'd need to drop Trent. Trent would be better with both Gordon and Saka on the pitch stretching play to make those long diagonals to. He's not great off the ball though. And then there's Palmer who would have helped with ball retention in the second half. Palmer could be Foden's replacement if latter was playing as a 10. And then there's also Eze. And Wharton.

I can understand Gallagher for Trent but that just gave the Serbs more impetus as it says "were sitting on this now".
Thought both Rice and Bellingham were a bit gassed by the end which was not surprising as Bellingham especially was everywhere. I agree he needs to be more disciplined but must be hard when you can do almost everything.
Oh and I thought Bowen did well when he came on...
So many good forward players and yet I think the main issue is sticking Foden on the left which just doesn't seem to work.
Can Southgate find the right balance?
 
I’d pegged Clarke as a decent coach who’d managed to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, and engendered an esprit de corps amongst a modest talent pool. This chap thinks otherwise- ouch!
https://x.com/EwenDCameron
“The day after the night before and it’s time to be brutally honest.Scotland last 10 Games: W 1 L 9 GA 26. There is something fundamentally wrong in our set up. I think we’ve got a good squad of players who should be doing far better than we have been and the manager has to carry the can for that. The humiliation of the 5-1 defeat to Germany is on the head of Steve Clarke, in my opinion. Defeat wasn’t a surprise but the manner of the loss is not acceptable. Tony Kroos had 102 passes in midfield and 101 were completed giving him a 99% accuracy. I don’t blame the players for that. I blame the tactics and the way Clarke set us up. We stood off from minute 1 and watched the opposition play football in front of us. WTF?McGregor was isolated sat in front of a back 5 and he had Christie, McTominay and McGinn in front of him doing absolutely nothing. They were just filling spaces. They never engaged or pressed. Time and time again McGregor had Havertz and Gündoğan to deal with and then the likes of Wirtz was also dropping into those pockets between defence and midfield.I felt sorry for McGregor because he was so isolated as our back 5 was so rigid. Not one of the three centre backs stepped up to put pressure on the German players who were dropping in alongside McGregor and had him outnumbered. Steve Clarke is a pragmatic coach and in Munich it felt as though we were on a tight leash and this has been his style from day 1 and I’ve never liked it.”

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Kane always looks tired this time of year......has done forever.

His best game is often dropping deep to make the play happen. But yes he does need service.
 
Weekender said:
I think Gordon should have come on after 60mins, probably for Foden who does not look comfortable on the left. Foden can't be on the right because Saka so... maybe play him as a 10, but then you'd need to drop Trent. Trent would be better with both Gordon and Saka on the pitch stretching play to make those long diagonals to. He's not great off the ball though. And then there's Palmer who would have helped with ball retention in the second half. Palmer could be Foden's replacement if latter was playing as a 10. And then there's also Eze. And Wharton.

I can understand Gallagher for Trent but that just gave the Serbs more impetus as it says "were sitting on this now".
Thought both Rice and Bellingham were a bit gassed by the end which was not surprising as Bellingham especially was everywhere. I agree he needs to be more disciplined but must be hard when you can do almost everything.
Oh and I thought Bowen did well when he came on...
So many good forward players and yet I think the main issue is sticking Foden on the left which just doesn't seem to work.
Can Southgate find the right balance?
Click to expand...

The biggest issue facing Southgate.
 
Finnegan said:
I’d pegged Clarke as a decent coach who’d managed to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, and engendered an esprit de corps amongst a modest talent pool. This chap thinks otherwise- ouch!
https://x.com/EwenDCameron
“The day after the night before and it’s time to be brutally honest.Scotland last 10 Games: W 1 L 9 GA 26. There is something fundamentally wrong in our set up. I think we’ve got a good squad of players who should be doing far better than we have been and the manager has to carry the can for that. The humiliation of the 5-1 defeat to Germany is on the head of Steve Clarke, in my opinion. Defeat wasn’t a surprise but the manner of the loss is not acceptable. Tony Kroos had 102 passes in midfield and 101 were completed giving him a 99% accuracy. I don’t blame the players for that. I blame the tactics and the way Clarke set us up. We stood off from minute 1 and watched the opposition play football in front of us. WTF?McGregor was isolated sat in front of a back 5 and he had Christie, McTominay and McGinn in front of him doing absolutely nothing. They were just filling spaces. They never engaged or pressed. Time and time again McGregor had Havertz and Gündoğan to deal with and then the likes of Wirtz was also dropping into those pockets between defence and midfield.I felt sorry for McGregor because he was so isolated as our back 5 was so rigid. Not one of the three centre backs stepped up to put pressure on the German players who were dropping in alongside McGregor and had him outnumbered. Steve Clarke is a pragmatic coach and in Munich it felt as though we were on a tight leash and this has been his style from day 1 and I’ve never liked it.”

x.com

x.com x.com
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I don’t follow the Scottish International team but they were very poor before Clarke took over and he has had good results. Hopefully for them the Germany game was a one off, we’ll see. Maybe Clarke has been there too long. Perhaps just qualifying should be seen as a big positive, although nobody wants to just roll over.

Cheers BB
 
blossomchris said:
world class striker staying forward keeps 2 of their defenders from advancing, Shearer was repeating the line as he was probably seeing silly tweets saying drop Kane, like a few on here
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I get the point!

I can't see that we should drop him from his role as striker at all. But as captain, myabe. A captain that leads by example, skill and experience like him is good when things are going well, but what about when things are not? Would you not like to see someone like a Roy Keane organising the troops whern the shit starts hitting the fan. Kane was mostly about 50 metres from all the action and he is not a vocal leader anyway. I can't help but think a Roy Keane type character as captain is still valid and credible, preferable even. Yet I see nobody else in that starting 11 that has the kind of leadership qualities that I think we lack either.
 
richardg said:
I get the point!

I can't see that we should drop him from his role as striker at all. But as captain, myabe. A captain that leads by example, skill and experience like him is good when things are going well, but what about when things are not? Would you not like to see someone like a Roy Keane organising the troops whern the shit starts hitting the fan. Kane was mostly about 50 metres from all the action and he is not a vocal leader anyway. I can't help but think a Roy Keane type character as captain is still valid and credible, preferable even. Yet I see nobody else in that starting 11 that has the kind of leadership qualities that I think we lack either.
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When the going got tough, Keane ****ed off. No thanks.

Bellingham is the Captain in waiting.
 
myles said:
When the going got tough, Keane ****ed off. No thanks.

Bellingham is the Captain in waiting.
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Ha, Ok, John Terry? You know what I mean, someone in the midfield areaish that knows how to organise, bollock, motivate, the team when things are tough. And things were tough for about 60 minutes last night. Yet I saw no communication on the pitch.

Yes, it would appear so, he seems to put everyone in awe. Every time he talks, he seems articulate, mature and intelligent.
 
Spraggons Den said:
If he continues with Foden and Trippier on the left, I fear we won't go any further than the round of 16.
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I agree I have yet to see Foden have a good game for England. Kane did his job and was unlucky not to pinch a goal, despite the woeful service he got for the whole game.
 
Brown Bottle said:
I don’t follow the Scottish International team but they were very poor before Clarke took over and he has had good results. Hopefully for them the Germany game was a one off, we’ll see. Maybe Clarke has been there too long. Perhaps just qualifying should be seen as a big positive, although nobody wants to just roll over.

Cheers BB
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The weakness of the national team reflects the relative weakness of the Scottish League I think. Money!
 
Bas V said:
Is there already a PFM poll somewhere? Or does everybody agree on Germany winning the cup?
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They were favourites at the start afaik, they always are, and the performance against Scotland reinforced why. I reckon they will win, and if England meet them in the higher stages then Gareth 's lot may as well put their bags on the plane the night before.
 
stevec67 said:
They were favourites at the start afaik, they always are, and the performance against Scotland reinforced why. I reckon they will win, and if England meet them in the higher stages then Gareth 's lot may as well put their bags on the plane the night before.
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Last time I checked odds England were favourites, which surprised me.
 
USA Today quotes BetMGM: 1. England - 10/3 · 2. France - 4/1 · 3. Germany - 9/2 · 4. Portugal - 7/1 · 5. Spain - 8/1. - Then probably Italy.

On a Danish betting site: England, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Holland, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland.

What glorious things did England do to become betting favourites?
----------------------------------

Here is an overview of favourites based on statistics made by Universität Innsbruck: https://www.zeileis.org/news/euro2024/
Apart from switching France and England, it very much confirms the above rankings.
 
Spain look the best value out of that lot, they blew Croatia away comfortably.

But it is very early days, of course. Trying to pick a winner on the basis of the first half a dozen games is as silly as it sounds.
 
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